I couldn’t justify doing an Empties post with these products because they’re really not empty. In fact, these are some barely touched products that I’m just completely chucking from my collection. These are items that I just don’t use in my collection and so I have no reason to keep them around. So let’s check out what I’m pitching or passing on!
KIKO Smoky Look eyeshadow pencil in 09
This was actually a great product. I loved KIKO’s Smoky Look eyeshadow pencil but I only got to use it twice before it dried up and fell out of the tube that was its home. It dried up within a year which I found slightly shocking since I have eyeshadow pencils that are much, much older than that and aren’t anywhere near as crusty and hard. Into the bin with this one.
Hard Candy Highlight and Contour Cheek Duo
Oh god this thing is AWFUL. Hard Candy‘s Highlight and Contour (really? Contour your cheeks with pink?!?!) Cheek Duo smells rancid right out of the package. It smells like plastic that has gone off. It goes on the cheeks in a waxy, slimy mess. It never fully sets, so you’re left with a grease smear across your cheeks. This one isn’t even worth passing on to anyone so I’m throwing it out.
MICA Beauty lip balm in Natural
MICA Beauty lip balm in Natural came in my very first Ipsy bag and I’ve not used it since then. It’s too pigmented to be convenient in a pot as I really feel like I need a lip brush to use this product. My mom liked the colour however, so I’ve passed this on to her.
Absolute! You’re the Balm in Grape
Another Ipsy item. I got this Grape balm from Absolute! in my August Ipsy bag and hated it right away. I couldn’t bring myself to wear it again, so it’s getting tossed. Jelly balm with chunky craft glitter in it? No thanks.
Elizabeth Mott It’s So Big mascara
This never ended up working for me how I wanted it to, so I passed it on to my mom who was willing to try it out. (Yet again… another Ipsy product…)
Elizabeth Mott Pop! Goes the shadow in Champagne
And anottttther Ipsy-delivered item I never reach for. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this eyeshadow, it does in fact apply rather nicely, I must have about five different dupes for this shade in my collection. It’s the most basic of basic eyeshadow colours and not one I need multiples of. My mom snagged it from me.
Lord & Berry Black SILK eyeliner
Are we noticing a trend here? Yep, another Ipsy product, also from my August bag. The world’s smallest eyeliner from Lord & Berry and it’s useless. Not creamy or smooth, barely transfers onto the lid, not fun. GARBAGE.
Nivea A Kiss of Olive Oil and Lemon
Nothing wrong with this product other than the fact that the scent of Olive Oil and Lemon doesn’t seem to be too enticing for me. I love Nivea lip products in general though so I’m definitely not harping on the product quality. My mom liked the scent so she snagged it from the pile of things I was going to throw out.
Pacifica eyeshadow duo
And lastly, another Ipsy product. Pacifica‘s eyeshadow duo is too weak in pigmentation for me to bother using. My mom liked the softness of the colours (aka lack of pigmentation) so she’s taking it home to play with.
While culling my makeup collection of items I don’t use/don’t like, I noticed that the bulk of them are all from Ipsy bags. Of the nine items I’m getting rid of today, six of them are from my Ipsy subscription. That right there was enough realization to cause me to cancel my Ipsy delivery. I’ll be receiving the bag for the month of September, but that’s it. For me, it’s just not worth the money to be receiving products I generally tend to use up without repurchasing or just throw away entirely. It was a fun novelty for a while, but the excitement has really worn off by this point.
Tomorrow I’m heading off on a week and a half vacation with a very good friend of mine. Several months ago we decided to go on vacation together and we picked Prague as our destination of choice. We’ll be in Prague for about seven days, but I’ve also extended my trip by a few extra days so that I can visit Vienna with an old friend of mine that lives in Germany.
I’m changing things up this time a little bit and bringing a (mostly) all-in-one face palette. When I was looking through my choices of palettes to bring, almost everything was either all neutrals or all brights. I didn’t want to travel with an all neutral palette yet again (I get too bored) but bringing an all brights palette isn’t the best of ideas either.
Too Faced – A few of my Favorite Things
So when I was perusing my palettes I realized that my best option was going to be Too Faced‘s A few of my Favorite Things palette (from their holiday 2013 collection). There’s enough mix of colours in this palette to satisfy me on holidays and it’s got two blushes and two bronzers as well. Most of my powder bases are completely covered with this!
The only downside is the palette is freaking huge which makes it slightly inconvenient. Thankfully it actually came with a large makeup bag so I’ll be using that for this trip as well. I have to say that I’m incredibly nervous about damaging this on vacation. The palette was limited edition and I’ll be heartbroken if I bust this or lose it while on vacation.
And of course I’m bringing my eye primers – NARS‘ Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base and Urban Decay‘s Primer Potion in Original.
And one pair of falsies for certain special occasions while on vacation (we’re planning to go to the Opera and get all fancy!). These are Sephora‘s Tempting lashes with some Duo eyelash glue.
I’m also bringing along Anastasia‘s Brow Wiz in Ash Blonde/Taupe because it’ll be quick and easy to apply (versus my Dipbrow pomade).
Kat Von D‘s Tattoo Liner in Trooper is also coming along for the ride because of its easy application. I’m a winged eyeliner freak, and while I prefer gel, this is far less fussy while travelling. I love that it has a brush tip and not the regular foam/felt tip applicator that most automatic liquid pens have.
My mascara of choice is the Urban DecayPerversion sample that I received in my August 2014 Ipsy bag. This stuff is absolutely wonderful. Really black, wet formula and does wonders for my eyelashes.
I’m not even sure I’ll wear these, but they’re good to have just in case. For foundation I have my beloved Boots No7 Instant Radiance in Cool Vanilla. It’s the darkest foundation I own but it’s still a touch too light for me right now. Nothing a little bronzer can’t fix though!
For any blemishes when I want to look flawless, I’m also bringing along essence‘s Match 2 Cover! concealer. Having two shades in this package is incredibly handy for custom mixing a shade to my current skin shade.
In an attempt to possibly counterbalance my precious eyeshadow palette, I’m bringing some of my absolute cheapest lip products: Two Wet n Wild lipsticks (910D and 903C) and a NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu.
Just some essentials for my lips:
MACPrep + Prime for lips to keep my lipsticks from bleeding outside my lipline and to increase lipstick longevity. (This product is absolutely holy grail status.)
MACBrick lipliner for the red Wet n Wild lipstick. While the lipstick doesn’t necessarily need the liner since it’s pigmented enough, it’s just nice to have something to help clean up the edges of a red lipstick.
And lastly, a Nivea lip balm in Milk & Honey for when I inevitably end up with chapped lips (thanks airplane air) and a bite-size BenefitWatt’s Up! cream highlighter.
I’m actually quite proud of this makeup bag. I think it’s the right choice for a “longer” (~12 days) European vacation without being overly excessive in the product department. I think the Too Faced palette really made it a lot easier since it alleviated the need to bring a bronzer and some blush options.
By the way, if you’ve been to either Prague or Vienna, I’d love to hear any of your recommendations for places to visit!
I had to laugh when I looked at my favourites this month. The blushes I used this month are near identical! This month was a 50/50 mix of discovering new products and loving some old ones for me. I definitely favoured colours that were more on the sunset spectrum of things, which I think was partially inspired by having heavily used Sleek’s Sunset palette near the start of the month.
essence – Autumn Peach
I received essence‘s Autumn Peach blush from a promotional package I was sent by PR, and this blush was by far the best thing in there. I love absolutely everything about it: The packaging, the colour, the embossed graphics, the wear time. There is not a single thing about this blush that I dislike. It goes on my cheeks as a subdued bright apricot that I can build up to be quite intense. I defaulted to this blush so much because it’s just so easy to wear and seemed to match an awful lot of my eye looks in the last month.
Tarte – Charisma
And this might as well be essence’s Autumn Peach blush’s slightly pinker sister! Tarte‘s Charisma is another shade I defaulted to a lot this month. Considering it’s so close to Autumn Peach, you can see that I was heavily favouring pinky-oranges in August. Charisma has a hint of gold sparkle to it, so I don’t generally use a highlighter when I opt to wear this one. Beautiful shade.
MAC – Whisper of Gilt
Keeping with the sunset theme is MAC‘s Whisper of Gilt Extra Dimension highlighter. The consistency of the Extra Dimension products has always felt very strange on my fingers (like a chalky styrofoam???) but it doesn’t feel like that when applied to the face. I wore a lot of oranges, bronzes and golds on my eyes in August so I tended to reach for my more golden highlighter to complement the looks.
Illamasqua – Alluvium
Alluvium is Illamasqua‘s most confusing pigment ever. Looks purply-bronze in the pot, swatches blue. In an effort to understand this pigment (what am I, the Eyeshadow Whisperer?), I used it a LOT after I bought it this month. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be a way to pull out the copper sparkles as this defaulted to a bright blue pigment no matter how I used it. If you’re looking for a vibrant blue pigment however, this is absolutely stunning.
Urban Decay Perversion mascara
My last favourite of the month is Urban Decay‘s Perversion mascara. I received this little baby sized sample in my August Ipsy bag and fell in love immediately. Black, thick and wet (yep, I’m still talking about mascara) – this product is WONDERFUL. I have an unfortunate number of mascaras open at the moment (which is not a particular habit of mine), but I reached for this product over the six others I’ve bought/received lately. The one day I used another mascara instead of this one, I instantly regretted it. Love, love, LOVE!
What colours did you steer towards throughout August?
My empties bag has clearly since better days. Poor guy.
As per usual, makeup items first.
Benefit They’re Real mascara
It’s a mascara graveyard here today. I had so many bite-sized mascara samples to use up and they got completely mauled throughout the last few months.
Anyway, back to the actual product. Benefit’s They’re Real is amazing. I’ve never given in to high end mascara hype because I don’t WANT to love the product. I really do not want to develop a habit of enjoying $30 mascara at all! However… My mom even thought I was wearing false lashes when I had this on. Having used this sample size, I have to say that there’s a high chance I’ll actually end up dishing out the money on this one in the future (once I run through all my deluxe mascara samples!).
Purchase? More than likely.
L’Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black waterproof mascara
I used to love this mascara, but this time round the block L’Oreal‘s Voluminous Carbon Black mascara just didn’t cut it for me. I’ll leave it for a while and then revisit it in a year or so. Maybe.
Repurchase? Eventually.
Make Up For Ever’s Smoky Lash Extravagant
A surprising favourite out of the bunch. MUFE’s Smoky Lash Extravagant builds up quite well and doesn’t clump. It dried up after a month or two though. I didn’t love it more than the Benefit one though.
Purchase? Unlikely.
Pop Beauty mascara
No. Just no. Useless and dry.
Purchase? Hah. NO.
NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base
Love this. I’m one of the unfortunate people that NARS Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base doesn’t actually work on its own to prevent creasing, but it does work in conjunction with Urban Decay‘s primer potion to kill all creasing so I love it for that reason. Word to the wise though, even when the wand pulls out nothing from the tube, cut that baby open and get out the remainder. There is MONTHS more product in there even after it feels empty.
Repurchase: Definitely.
Revlon Lip Butter in Creme Brulee
Absolute favourite. Revlon’s Creme Brulee lip butter is my favourite nude lip. This is my second tube of the stuff and it’s one of the easiest lip shades to wear on my complexion.
Repurchase? More than likely.
MAC Omega eyeshadow
*The* eyebrow shade for blondes. MAC‘s Omega has the right kind of grey tint to the powder that makes my eyebrows not look overly ridiculously blonde (not that I have much in the way of eyebrows to begin with). I loved this eyeshadow, but I’m currently plugging through my AnastasiaDipbrow Pomade to try something new because this eyeshadow lasted me longer than a year even with daily use!
Repurchase? Maybe eventually, but for now I’m having fun exploring other options.
MAC Prep + Prime for lips
Second… third maybe? tube of MAC’s Prep + Prime for lips. Fantastic for preventing lipsticks from bleeding outside my lipline.
Repurchase? Already have!
Murad – Oil-Control Mattifier
I didn’t notice Murad’s mattifier working especially well, but then I also noticed the expiry date was roughly four months prior to when I used it. Whoops. It also smelled like glue. Ew.
Purchase? No thanks.
Barry M – Diamond Glitter
Ohhhh yes. Barry M‘s Diamond Glitter nail polish had a lovely home on my toenails for about six months this past year. The bottle is dead empty now which is a shame since you can’t buy Barry M in Canada!
Repurchase? If I find myself in the UK again, I will *definitely* pick this one up!
Quo – Nail Polish Remover
I swear Quo is the only brand of nail polish remover I can ever find at the drugstore. I default to this because it’s there, it’s functional and it’s relatively cheap.
Repurchase? Yes, because I don’t know of anything better out there!
Neutrogena Wipes
No shocker here. Neutrogena‘s makeup removing wipes are the only ones I use now. Definite preference to the hydrating ones.
Repurchase? For sho.
Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Make-Up Remover
I’ve used several bottles of Neutrogena‘s makeup remover now and have another one cracked open. It doesn’t work as well on waterproof makeup as my Marcelle stuff did so I think I’ll be reverting back to the Marcelle one.
Repurchase? I have an open bottle, but aside from that I think I’m going to try something else out next time.
MOR Hand Cream – Kale and Watercress and Urban Decay Anti-Aging Primer
The foil packets of the lot.
MOR Hand Cream in Kale and Watercress smelled nice, but it’s a hand cream… Nothing amazing here.
Purchase? Pass.
Urban Decay‘s Anti-Aging Primer Potion is basically the same as the Original really. I didn’t notice it really having any anti-aging properties (I basically think that anything that claims that is utter hogwash really) so meh.
Purchase? I’ll just stick to the Original one I normally use.
FCS‘s whipped cream body butter is an awesome formula, however, their Captain’s Berried Booty scent was totally nauseating to me. It’s fruitloops and cardboard, basically.
Repurchase? Not in this scent!
Fortune Cookie Soap – Tick Tock Whipped Cream
Another FCS whipped cream. I liked their Tick Tock scent quite a bit. I have no idea how the scent relates to the Hunger Games, but anyway… it basically smells like clean laundry to me. Very detergent-y, but it doesn’t bother me.
Repurchase? I liked it, but not enough to repurchase it. There are other things I like more.
Tree Hut Coconut Lime Shea Body Butter
Sample size of Tree Hut‘s Coconut Lime Shea Body Butter. This was okay, but not amazing. The smell wasn’t really my cup of tea either.
Purchase? Nope.
Dermal Therapy – Hand, Elbow & Knee Moisturizer
This stuff isn’t fancy, or pretty, but oh man does it ever work. Dermal Therapy products are a godsend for anyone with incredibly dry skin. I get pretty scratchy elbows and ankles and this works miracles on them.
Repurchase? Definitely.
Dermal Therapy – Heel Care Moisturizer
And this ganked up nasty jar is Dermal Therapy‘s Heel Care. The best thing EVER for heel cracks. This can repair the Grand-freaking-Canyon of heel cracks and make your heels look baby-butt smooth in the span of a week. I’m not kidding because I’ve seen it happen on me. (You’re welcome for that visual.)
Repurchase? Forever and a day.
Burt’s Bees – Almond & Milk Hand Cream
Burt’s BeesAlmond & Milk Hand Cream smells nice, but it’s super thick and super greasy.
Repurchase? Nah.
Clean & Clear – Deep Action Cream Cleanser
One of my usual cleansers. I like how this one has a cool tingle on the skin. I do find your skin gets used to that tingly feeling though, so I tend to swap out my cleansers pretty frequently.
Repurchase? Definitely.
Boots No7 – Beautiful Skin Foaming Cleanser
Snagged this from a friend who didn’t want to finish it up. Boots No7Beautiful Skin Foaming Cleanser is good but the scent is a little bizarre to me. This may be completely offputting to some, but it smelled faintly like cigarettes. Or like the afterburn of a cigarette. It truly wasn’t as gross as I’m making it sound, but there was that scent to it that was really hard to place.
Purchase? Maybe, if on sale.
Fortune Cookie Soap – Lemon Drop It Like It’s Hot Microdermabrasion Scrub
FCS‘ first skincare item. I liked it at first, but the scent started to bother me over time. Nicely abrasive though.
Repurchase? Nah.
Philosophy – The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash
Another product I swiped from that same friend as before. Philosophy‘s Exfoliating wash smells terrible to me. Did not enjoy it at all.
Purchase? Nope.
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant
Dr. Brandt‘s Microdermabrasion skin exfoliant was AMAZING. It completely cured me of a milium spot I had on my lower left eyelid. This stuff packs a hefty price tag, but I fortunately received this sample size in an Ipsy bag. If I had milia again in the future though, I would absolutely pick this up even at the full price.
Repurchase? If necessary due to skin problems, then absolutely yes!
Aveeno – Clear Complexion Daily Moisturizer
A staple daily moisturizer for me. The packaging’s all messed up though. I normally get the Radiant one, but this one says Clear Complexion in English… but Radiant in French! What the hell? They’re normally two different types!
Repurchase? Definitely. I’m almost done another bottle in the bathroom already.
Eva NYC – Therapy Session Hair Mask
I wouldn’t normally post hair stuff, but this came in an Ipsy bag so I thought I’d mention it. This is nothing more than a hair conditioner. I don’t feel it did anything extra special to my hair, even when I left it on for a good ten minutes in the shower.
Repurchase? Nope.
PHEW! That’s a lot of garbage to get through. Looking at some of these products, I kind of wish I’d saved them for Kalyn’s Sample Killah month. Darn!
ALRIGHT PEOPLE! It is 1:07 a.m. Friday night (aka Saturday morning), this blog post was supposed to get posted at 8 a.m. this morning, but clearly that did not happen. I’m a few glasses *cough*bottle*cough* of wine down, my photos are edited, I have episodes of Supernatural playing in the background should I require immediate distraction, and I just need to provide you with insightful data on what I loved this month.
Shall we proceed?
WE SHALL.
Too Faced – Coral Fire
HNNGGGGGG. Call this my lipstick of summer. (Really, call it whatever you want, I’ll just be over in the corner calling it pretty.) This is Too Faced‘s Coral Fire and it apparently fits into their “red” category of lipsticks. Uh… okay. On ME it’s (oh god, am I really saying this?) it’s a fiery coral. Derp.
It’s deeper than most corals, but I can’t get away from the fact that I do feel it’s actually *coral* in nature. I don’t think it’s red (like Too Faced does), but anyway. It’s beautiful. It’s a colour that just suits me – I’m always shocked by my appearance when I see myself in the mirror while wearing this. It’s slightly pink, slightly “red”, slightly coral, creamy, luminous and it just *works* on me. It’s the kind of shade that makes you want the entire collection because you figure that one colour must make the ENTIRE LINE be as beautiful on yourself as this one shade is. Not to mention the luscious sweet lemon scent of the product which is TO DIE FOR, just so we’re clear, and totally unique as far as I’m aware!
Even if you don’t like this shade, I encourage you to try something from Too Faced‘s La Creme line. All of the lip shades I have from this line are glorious on a level I didn’t even know existed. Plus the name appeals to me. Aside from the colour, we all need to acknowledge the fact that packaging and the naming conventions of products do inspire us to like products more. If this was called “pink-red”, I’d probably like “meh”. But it’s not. It’s called Coral Fire, and it makes me swoon.
Sleek – Sunrise palette
Sleek does gorgeous makeup through and through. Their 12 pan eyeshadow palettes are my absolute favourite product by them. I used the Sunset palette extensively throughout an entire week this past month! (upcoming Challenge Week coming this following week with this very palette) and could not believe I had used this palette so little before then. The colours are phenomenally pigmented. The only downfall is a lack of matte colours. But let’s get real here – you’ve got mattes in your collection somewhere, and you can definitely break them out to use in conjunction with this palette.
Nicka K – Shimmer Eyeliner in Green
Like Sarah, I’ve also been loving this liquid eyeliner this month. Nicka K‘s Shimmer Eyeliner in Green (uhhh *sorta* green) arrived in my June 2014 Ipsy Glam Bag. I loved it at the time, but used it a few times and kind of disregarded it.
I’ll say the bad right off the bat: the brush is fucking weird. It’s not felt, foam or brush tip. It’s some weird plastic contraption that actually causes some patchiness when you apply it. The other downside is that it stains.
The upsides? IT STAINS, WHICH MEANS IT STAYS PUT FOREVER. The colour is incredible. The vibrancy and shimmer is completely unparalleled in anything I own. And it retails for $6 freaking dollars. My MUFE Aqualiner (read: is expensive) doesn’t even perform this well. I don’t mind staining when it means I can wear a product forever. And that colour… good lord. This is worth buying. And I want every shade.
I’m writing too many paragraphs, which generally means you’ve skipped over to the next picture and given up on me. But I love this, and it’s been my only eye makeup of choice when I’m visiting nearby friends or on a hot day when I really can’t be bothered to wear multiple eyeshadows.
Julep – Paris
Kalyn sent me this when I won a giveaway on her blog and I could kiss her for it. This is Julep‘s Paris nail polish. I don’t know much about Julep, but I know I love this. This is a chunky holographic glitter with a gold sheen. As I’ve mentioned before, I wear glitter on my toenails 24/7. When she sent me this, I had just run out of my current glitter polish and needed a replacement. I’ve worn this on my toes for the entire month of July and I only have about a third of the bottle left. I *love* this stuff!
MAC – Sea Me, Hear Me
When I boughtMAC‘s Sea Me, Hear Me blush I kind of made fun of it in my head. I mean it… to me, it was a fall colour being promoted in the summer. “The heck am I going to do with this thing throughout the summer? It’s too damn dark!” is what I told myself.
Lies. All lies.
I wore the pants out of this blush this month. Despite the swatch, it goes on my cheeks slightly more orange, which means I’ve kind of paired it with some odd combinations this month… but really, I don’t care. Because it’s an extra dimension blush (which has always meant “harder than normal” texture to me), I need to use a stiff duo-fiber brush to dig into the product. Buff it on, blend it out and pray for the best. It’s beautiful. To me it’s a more vibrant, showy TarteExposed. Which is perfect for the summer!
And really, I bought it because the packaging was pretty. (Show of hands, you know you did it too!)
Cat butt alert
And this was a blurry Nemo. Because you know he wasn’t going to miss out on on showing off some cat butt for this post!
And now, my favourite gif, because this entire WORK MONTH has felt like this. My boss sent it to me today and I was reminded of how much I love this gif. Grumpy cat, I <3 u4lyf.
